ES 125 EQ and ETS 125 EQ sanders

[GaryLaroff]

I?m new here and am not sure if you prefer I piggy-back off another stream or start a new one.

The question has to do with the ES 125 EQ and ETS 125 EQ sanders as I have an opportunity to buy a nice ES 125 EQ.

I do woodworking as a hobby in my own shop making mostly furniture and the like.  The current project is a batch of rocking horses.  So, unless I have to sand some wood on the entrance to my garage, the tools never leave my shop.  When possible, I always use dust collection.

I already have four decent sanders for furniture, all of which are Porter-Cable models.  For most work I use one of two PC 5-inch random orbitals.  The single speed has a 1.9 amp motor and the variable speed is the 333VS with a 2.4 amp motor.  I think both of these have 3/32 inch orbits.  For some finer work or when a spinning pad isn?t convenient I have and use the tried-and-true model 330 ?speedbloc? and larger model 505, both of which are rectangular orbital sanders.  The 330 has a 5/64 in. orbit.  For the random orbital sanders I use the Mirka bulldog gold disks but expect to use the Brilliant and Mirka Abranet and Abralon if I buy the ES 125 EQ.

In postings over a year ago, the minor differences were listed for the ES 125 EQ and ETS 125 EQ sanders.  Although I can?t find an ES 125 EQ user manual online, it appears to have a 3/32 inch orbit whereas the newer ETS 125 EQ has a reduced 5/64 inch orbit, which was not posted last year.

My questions:

1.  Is the reduced orbit on the ETS 125 EQ noticeable or will the ES 125 EQ give the same results?  I am not interested in speed or in weighing the amount of saw dust removed and am mostly interested in quality of finish.

2.  I just bought a Mirka Abranet sample kit of one each disk from P80 up through P600 grit and will try it out on the PC 333VS.  Have any of you used this abrasive on the E(T)S 125 EQ and how well did it work?

3.  Considering the sanders I have and the work I do, do you see any improvement I will get with the Festool sanders or do you have any other advice or comments?

4.  I will go to one of the local Festool dealers and try to play with the ES 125 EQ/ETS 125 EQ today.  With the PC RO sanders I either hold them from the top or by the neck and have been told the vacuum port gets in the way of holding the Festool sander by the neck.  Do you have any experiences with this or should I just check it out myself?

Regards and thank you in advance for any responses,
Gary Laroff
Portland, Oregon

 

[nickao]

The only problem I have with the ETS 125 is that it just takes to long to get the results you can get with the porter cables in 1/2 the time. Even current tests in Wood magazine show the ETS 125, though the smoothest sander out there, is the slowest by a wide margin over every other sander in the the test.

The PC in my opinion is better. I also just purchased the new PC and it blows the old porter cable and the ets 125 out of the water.

Porter Cable 390K

Nickao

PS if you have really small hands you may not like the 390.

 

[Len]

The only problem I have with the ETS 125 is that it just takes to long to get the results you can get with the porter cables in 1/2 the time. Even current tests in Wood magazine show the ETS 125, though the smoothest sander out there, is the slowest by a wide margin over every other sander in the the test.

The PC in my opinion is better. I also just purchased the new PC and it blows the old porter cable and the ets 125 out of the water.

Porter Cable 390K

Nickao

PS if you have really small hands you may not like the 390.

Nickao, thanks for the link to the Porter Cable sander.  Who would have thought that reading the FOG forum I would find that PC makes the best sander!!!!  All my Festool sanders will hit the garage sale on Saturday.  You did good.

 

[nickao]

Well, "best" is in the mind of the user. That is MY opinion only. But I stand by it comparing the two sanders head to head. Plus there are several publications that agree with me.

I would NEVER give up my ETS 150/3 or RO 150, but as far as the ETS 125 it is not up to the other Festool sanders performance.

Just because Festool makes good tools does NOT mean everything they make is the best in its class, they are not. I would not have returned 3 Kapex if all their tools were the best.

Your sarcasm aside, buy the PC and go head to head with the ETS 125 and see for yourself, it's a no brainer. The new PC 390 rocks.

Nick

PS  I will buy your Festool sanders that you are tossing as long as it is not an ETS 125

 

[GaryLaroff]

As planned, I test drove some Festool sanders.  We will ignore the first store where they let me use the sander only with worn out P400 grit paper on slick MDF with the dust collection hose getting hung up on the table edge.  The main tests at another store were on real wood and the sanders were connected to a CT33 with the boom accessory.  The ETS 125 EQ was a bit of a disappointment as it slowed to a stop and jerked a bit at slow speeds. Is this normal?

The ETS 150/3, though was the smoothest sander I've ever used.  Besides being more expensive, it would require "investing" in a supply of 6-inch abrasives, but it might be worth it.  I want one.  I really want one.

The RS 2 E was impressive and is probably better than my PC 505.  It certainly would eliminate the cloud of dust the PC 505 produces and should be gentler on my joints.  I've searched the FOG posts and can't find any current estimates regarding a new Plug-It power cord variant.  Has one been announced?

My favorite sander in my shop is the quarter-sheet PC 330 "Speed-Bloc" that is used all the time.  Do any of you know if the RTS 400 EQ with hose attached would be as nimble as the PC 330?  I especially like the ability of the PC 300 to sand rounded edges and other areas where a slightly soft backing pad is of value.  Would the RTS 400 EQ be a worthy replacement to the PC 330 or is it targeted at other applications?

Gary Laroff

 

[Neill]

Gary -

I know the ETS 125EQ has been a disappointment to many users.  Frankly, I love mine.  I use it strictly for finish sanding, polishing and sanding between coats of finish.  Its non-aggressive nature makes it ideally suited for these tasks.  Its smaller footprint enables to get into some spots that might be difficult to get to otherwise.  I also have a LS 130 that I consider this same type of sander that I use for sanding profiles and edges.

I have a Porter Cable 6" VS ROS and the 5" Rotex that I use when more aggressive sanding is required. I am happy with them as well.  They both also do a very creditable job of getting close to a fine final finish.

One thing I have noticed with all my sanders is that the best control is achieved at the highest speeds and with a light touch.  If you are pushing down hard enough on the sander to make it jump, or slow down to a crawl or stop to get the results you want, you may be using the wrong sander and/or abrasive for the job.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Neill

 

[martingchapman]

I agree with Neill,
I use my ETS 125 for finish sanding and for any small one handed sanding jobs and I am very happy with it.
It is light in weight, easy to handle and the dust extraction is superb.

It wont remove material like a Rotex but then they are designed for different jobs.

Martin.

 

[GaryLaroff]

Thank you for the responses.  The discussion continues but could easily be a new post called "5-inch or 6 inch sanders?"

I do mostly small to medium size furniture projects, predominantly American 18th Century style, and large toys, such as rocking horses.

I agree with Nickao that the PC 390K is a worthy successor to the taller PC random orbit sanders and would make a good choice if one had only one random orbit machine.  By the way, due to its short stubby profile, even small hands are comfortable on it.

Similarly I thank Neill and Martin for their comments but I was surprised the ETS 125 EQ would be so weak and stop intermittently at the slower speeds with little or no hand pressure.  But, I agree that at medium speeds or higher it would probably do a great job with fine abrasives.

With a drum sander, a quality Inca 10-inch planer and a few PC random orbit sanders, I'm not looking to hog wood with my Festool sanders.  I live in a world of 100 to 320 grit sandpaper and am testing Mirka Abranet and Abralon for these and finer grits.  This points to wanting finish sanders.

Plans are to buy Festool sanders including a Rotex, an ETS random orbit and the RS2 orbital, perhaps adding to these later.  In the past I've preferred five-inch random orbital sanders and have a large stock of Mirka 5-hole paper for the PC machines.

I only want to stock one size of Festool disks and if the products appeared to be equal, this would be the 5-inch disks.  Gerry Work tends to suggest the 6-inch ETS 150/x and Rotex but his work tends to be (much) larger than mine.  The ETS 150/3 EQ appears to be a much nicer sander than the ETS 125 EQ, but might be a bit heavy and large for my work.

Do you have any advice on standardizing on 5-inch or 6-inch Festool RO sanders for a guy who builds projects the size the average person could lift without assistance?

As an aside, I now have a Festool Domino (with retractable pins) and look forward to working with it.

Regards and thank you for any responses you post,
Gary Laroff

 

[Jerry Work]

Hi Gary,

If you do a lot of work with sanders, also consider pad life and bearing life as not all sanders are created equal from my experience.  Prior to purchasing my first Festool sander I used to wear out and throw away PC333's every three to four months.  Same was true of H&L pads from most other manufacturers.  After a few months of use they simply would no longer hold the media in place.  I have yet to wear out a Festool sander and have only worn out a couple of H&L pads.  I did wear out the brushes in my RO150 once which I changed out with the replacement brushes that came with that sander in about 5 minutes.  After years of using other brands of sanders I became sensitive to fine dust so the superior Festool dust collection is not an option for me and I would not go back to anything else for any reason.  Hope this helps.

Jerry

I?m new here and am not sure if you prefer I piggy-back off another stream or start a new one.

The question has to do with the ES 125 EQ and ETS 125 EQ sanders as I have an opportunity to buy a nice ES 125 EQ.

I do woodworking as a hobby in my own shop making mostly furniture and the like.  The current project is a batch of rocking horses.  So, unless I have to sand some wood on the entrance to my garage, the tools never leave my shop.  When possible, I always use dust collection.

I already have four decent sanders for furniture, all of which are Porter-Cable models.  For most work I use one of two PC 5-inch random orbitals.  The single speed has a 1.9 amp motor and the variable speed is the 333VS with a 2.4 amp motor.  I think both of these have 3/32 inch orbits.  For some finer work or when a spinning pad isn?t convenient I have and use the tried-and-true model 330 ?speedbloc? and larger model 505, both of which are rectangular orbital sanders.  The 330 has a 5/64 in. orbit.  For the random orbital sanders I use the Mirka bulldog gold disks but expect to use the Brilliant and Mirka Abranet and Abralon if I buy the ES 125 EQ.

In postings over a year ago, the minor differences were listed for the ES 125 EQ and ETS 125 EQ sanders.  Although I can?t find an ES 125 EQ user manual online, it appears to have a 3/32 inch orbit whereas the newer ETS 125 EQ has a reduced 5/64 inch orbit, which was not posted last year.

My questions:

1.  Is the reduced orbit on the ETS 125 EQ noticeable or will the ES 125 EQ give the same results?  I am not interested in speed or in weighing the amount of saw dust removed and am mostly interested in quality of finish.

2.  I just bought a Mirka Abranet sample kit of one each disk from P80 up through P600 grit and will try it out on the PC 333VS.  Have any of you used this abrasive on the E(T)S 125 EQ and how well did it work?

3.  Considering the sanders I have and the work I do, do you see any improvement I will get with the Festool sanders or do you have any other advice or comments?

4.  I will go to one of the local Festool dealers and try to play with the ES 125 EQ/ETS 125 EQ today.  With the PC RO sanders I either hold them from the top or by the neck and have been told the vacuum port gets in the way of holding the Festool sander by the neck.  Do you have any experiences with this or should I just check it out myself?

Regards and thank you in advance for any responses,
Gary Laroff
Portland, Oregon